The current guidelines on the management of anemia in CKD mainly focus on erythropoietin-stimulating agent (ESA) therapy, iron therapy, and blood transfusion (Cameron, 1999; Locatelli et al., 2004; Hainsworth, 2006; Kdoqi, 2007; Locatelli et al., 2013; Padhi et al., 2015). Here, EPO is linked to anemia (phenotype).